Joseph Pera (born ) is an American comedian, writer and actor. He is best known as the creator and star of

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

's '' Joe Pera Talks with You'', which entered development following the success of the 2016 specials ''Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep'', and ran for three seasons.

Early life

Joe Pera was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

and raised in the suburb of

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

. His parents, David and Catherine Pera, own a

scaffolding Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

company. Pera's paternal grandparents, Joseph L. Pera and Josephine Pera (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Rizzo), were a retired

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

and homemaker, respectively. Pera would later feature his grandmother in his comedy videos. He studied film at

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

, where he competed in and won the college's stand-up competition three times. Pera graduated from Ithaca College in 2010. He moved to New York City to pursue comedy and participated in

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether the ...

nights as often as possible.

Career

Known for his slow, "grandfatherly" delivery and his penchant for wearing sweaters, Pera created the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

Infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

''Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep''. This was followed by an appearance on ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...

'', and another stand-alone Adult Swim special titled ''Joe Pera Helps You Find the Perfect Christmas Tree''. Thanks to the success of those programs (all produced by Chestnut Walnut, founded by him and

Conner O'Malley Conner O'Malley (born December 20, 1986) is an American comedian, writer and actor. For his work on '' Late Night with Seth Meyers'', he received three Writers Guild of America Awards nominations. He also produces videos on YouTube and was activ ...

), Pera developed a television series for Adult Swim, which premiered on May 20, 2018, titled '' Joe Pera Talks with You''. He appeared on the talk show '' Conan'' on March 28, 2017, and on ''

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ''The Late Show with Stephen Colbert'' is an American late-night news and liberal political satire talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. Produced by Spartina Productions and CBS Studios, it is the second it ...

'' on December 4, 2019. In 2021, Joe Pera released a book named ''A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape'' which was illustrated by Joe Bennett. On January 31, 2023, Joe and Chestnut Walnut announced a podcast to help people fall asleep called, ''Drifting Off With Joe Pera.'' It is similar to his "Talks You To Sleep" series. Episodes are released on the first Sunday of every month, features a guest interview, a guest musician, and a philosophical monologue on a given topic. On March 3, 2023, Joe made a brief appearance on EHFM's Radio show "No Dancing", where he discussed his thoughts on moving slowly and reflectively and shared a piece of music he was working on. He appears at 31:40. On October 6, 2023, Pera released a 56-minute standup special titled ''Joe Pera: Slow and Steady'' on YouTube.

Personal life

In a video to his YouTube channel, Pera endorsed Democratic candidate

India Walton India B. Walton is an American political activist and nurse. She defeated incumbent Mayor Byron Brown in the Democratic Party primary for the 2021 election for mayor of Buffalo, New York before losing to Brown in the general election where he r ...

for mayor of

in the 2021 election.

Filmography

Film

Television

YouTube series

Podcast

References

External links

* * *
Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep
' on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Chestnut Walnut Unlimited website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pera, Joe 1988 births Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers American comedy writers American male comedians American male television actors American stand-up comedians American television writers Comedians from New York (state) Ithaca College alumni Male actors from Buffalo, New York American male television writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Television personalities from New York (state) Writers from Buffalo, New York 21st-century American screenwriters